No member of my family will contest WFI election, says outgoing chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

New Delhi [India]: Outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Monday said that today is the last day for filing nominations for the federation’s elections and no member of his family will contest the election.

“Today is the last day for filing of nominations for the federation’s elections (Wrestling Federation of India, WFI)…Nobody from my family is filing a nomination,” Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh told ANI. Initially, the WFI elections which were set to take place from July 6 to July 11 were postponed, as per the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

Former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Mahesh Mittal Kumar was appointed as the returning officer for the Wrestling Federation of India elections by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). IOA Joint Secretary and Acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey confirmed the appointment of Justice MM Kumar through an official letter, also authorising him (Kumar) to appoint an Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) and other staff to assist him in conducting the elections.

In the election, the members of the executive committee of WFI will be decided. The occupants of the post of president, one post of senior vice-president, four posts of vice president, one each position of secretary general and treasurer, two posts of joint secretary and five posts of an executive member will be decided, as per a letter from IOA.

The IOA organised a three-member ad-hoc committee in April as mandated by the Union Sports Ministry and two members were named to oversee WFI’s day-to-day activities and pick wrestlers for international events in the interim term.

Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in April this year announced that the IOA will be forming an ad-hoc committee to conduct the elections for the Executive Committee of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) within 45 days of its formation, to manage day-to-day affairs of the body, including the selection of athletes and making entries for the participation of players in international events.

Since the start of this year, top wrestlers like Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik had been protesting to press their demand for action against Brij Bhushan over sexual harassment allegations faced by him.